FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



to discover the mating habits o£ Anopheles. It was at a pigsty, 

 and just before dusk the males came swarming out and hovered 

 about, waiting for the females. Then they coupled with them 

 during flight and soon disappeared. We drove back to Rome 

 just at dusk, stopping at a temporary laboratory, where I had 

 the pleasure of meeting Signor Negri, then one of Grassi's prin- 

 cipal assistants. Grassi talked much to me about his own claims 

 to be acknowledged as the real discoverer of the transfer of 

 human malaria by Anopheles. He said that Ross had antici- 

 pated him only in the discovery of bird malaria, since Ross had 

 studied first the malaria of the sparrow in Calcutta. Ross had 

 already received the Nobel Prize, and Grassi was very indignant. 

 He told me that some German writer had taken his side, and 

 that he had written a long paper on the subject. He wished to 

 have me translate this into English and have it pubhshed in 

 the United States. But he never sent it to me, and I hardly 

 believe that I would have done it in any event, since I think 

 that the fame that came to Ross was justified. 



One interesting little incident of our auto journey from Fuma- 

 cino back to Rome should be told. We were passing a peasants' 

 house in the middle of a cultivated field, where a man and his 

 wife were working. The automobile stopped and the Senator 

 called out, "Ho, Giuseppe!" The man dropped his hoe, but, 

 instead of coming down to the road to see us, he went off into 

 the house, while his wife came down to the gate, smiling a 

 cordial welcome. There was a little talk in Italian, and while 

 I was thinking that the man had purposely avoided us, he came 

 out of the house with a bottle of wine in one hand and three 

 eggs in the other. Knowing that the Senator did not drink, he 

 offered me the wine, and insisted that Grassi should take the 

 eggs. I took a drink, and Grassi, after protesting, put the eggs 

 carefully into his pocket, and then he said to me, "Giuseppe, 



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